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A cross post from another forum, but I thought with all of the reloading clinics and ammo shortages this would interest some folks:
I've never reloaded before last night, I've always wanted to but never made the leap. I haven't done anything significant in the way of reading up on it either.
I called and ordered a Lee Classic kit in 45 ACP with both upgrades from Kempf's gun shop on Friday, 23 Oct. I received everything out here in CA on Thursday, 29 Oct. Along with the order I got 500 rnds each of 230gr LRN and 200gr LSWC. Great pricing and very nice people to deal with! They even sent all 1000 bullets at the price of the cheaper ones.
I had already picked up some powder and primers and I had an idea of what I wanted to load. Last night I went out and mounted the press, assembled it, installed and adjusted the dies, power measure and priming system. I really was not intending to load any ammo. However, it's recommended to run some powder through the measure prior to loading for real so I ran just that operation and set up for my first powder charge while I was at it. Between that and rigging the priming system I was halfway to loading ammo so...
I said to myself, "self, why don't we load up a few rounds, just to see how hard it is?" So I did, I set the OAL and it stayed picture perfect, the crimp seems fine at the base setting, I checked each power charge, then one every few, then one in ten. It works great, I think I'll trust it!
Did I say one in ten, well yes. I loaded 50 of the 230gn loads. I only wanted enough to check 'em in my weapons (say 15-20ish?) but I got a little carried away. I was having a small issue with the primer catching on the base of the case. I smoothed some rough edges off the inside of the ram and the arm itself and all is well. I went ahead and set up for the 200gn SWC, as luck would have it the seating die setting turned out to be exactly the same for both bullets! I changed the powder drop and loaded 25 of those.
SUPER easy press to use, I like that it is fairly fast but as a first timer I can do/watch ONE operation at a time. I could take a visual on every powder charge, and once in a while I would stop, pull the case and dump it to check the charge. All good. Same with everything the press did once I got the priming issue fixed.
I'm very pleased and excited to load more. What started as just setting up the press turned quickly and easily into finished product. I highly recommend this press and Kempf's was great to deal with.
Today I went out back and shot up the stuff I loaded last night. I had the slide lock prematurely 3 or 4 times with the RN, so I made up 15 more with .010" less OAL to test out. The SWC load shoots great as is. I loaded another 50 of those in about 20 min. I was taking my time too, checking dimensions, visually checking every powder charge and weighing several along the way.
Doug
I've never reloaded before last night, I've always wanted to but never made the leap. I haven't done anything significant in the way of reading up on it either.
I called and ordered a Lee Classic kit in 45 ACP with both upgrades from Kempf's gun shop on Friday, 23 Oct. I received everything out here in CA on Thursday, 29 Oct. Along with the order I got 500 rnds each of 230gr LRN and 200gr LSWC. Great pricing and very nice people to deal with! They even sent all 1000 bullets at the price of the cheaper ones.
I had already picked up some powder and primers and I had an idea of what I wanted to load. Last night I went out and mounted the press, assembled it, installed and adjusted the dies, power measure and priming system. I really was not intending to load any ammo. However, it's recommended to run some powder through the measure prior to loading for real so I ran just that operation and set up for my first powder charge while I was at it. Between that and rigging the priming system I was halfway to loading ammo so...
I said to myself, "self, why don't we load up a few rounds, just to see how hard it is?" So I did, I set the OAL and it stayed picture perfect, the crimp seems fine at the base setting, I checked each power charge, then one every few, then one in ten. It works great, I think I'll trust it!
Did I say one in ten, well yes. I loaded 50 of the 230gn loads. I only wanted enough to check 'em in my weapons (say 15-20ish?) but I got a little carried away. I was having a small issue with the primer catching on the base of the case. I smoothed some rough edges off the inside of the ram and the arm itself and all is well. I went ahead and set up for the 200gn SWC, as luck would have it the seating die setting turned out to be exactly the same for both bullets! I changed the powder drop and loaded 25 of those.
SUPER easy press to use, I like that it is fairly fast but as a first timer I can do/watch ONE operation at a time. I could take a visual on every powder charge, and once in a while I would stop, pull the case and dump it to check the charge. All good. Same with everything the press did once I got the priming issue fixed.
I'm very pleased and excited to load more. What started as just setting up the press turned quickly and easily into finished product. I highly recommend this press and Kempf's was great to deal with.
Today I went out back and shot up the stuff I loaded last night. I had the slide lock prematurely 3 or 4 times with the RN, so I made up 15 more with .010" less OAL to test out. The SWC load shoots great as is. I loaded another 50 of those in about 20 min. I was taking my time too, checking dimensions, visually checking every powder charge and weighing several along the way.
Doug
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